Plex Iive TV and DVR advice,

General Discussions Plex Features
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Over the last month I have been trying to understand PLEX and all the features… I think that my Media Server is coming along and I just sighed up for the PlexPass Lifetime… and I really am impressed with the service, capabiilties and the help the folks here on the forum provide new folks like me.

I"ll try to make this short, this is about using PLEX with my Server and HDHomerun Quatro TV tuner, with the PLex Pass I think it is great that now, I" will have a Lifetime program guide and TV =DVR usuage… Today, I decided to hook up my Quatro TV tuner to my Media Server… Interesting experriance. I went thru the set up and tried to get my Media Server to search my network for the Tuner… well, the little wheel just kept running around and around… .so, I found the IP address of my tuner, plugged that in and hit continue… the name of my tuner then showed up so I figure it found it… I continued and I was able to find all my channels, ran the program guide and now on my server menu I see… the program guide and and I can actually click on one of the shows, watch it, and schedule future recordings of the shows… so, I figure I am good to go… but when I go back under the Tuner page in the server settings TV-DVR my tuner shows up there but I see this little red triangle that has this. “Device not Found, ensure your device is powered on and conneced to your network” This is a bit confusing as I see my tuner listed, I can hit the setting wheel and watch TV and schedule recording… so, It must be seeing the tuner. I am guessing there is a glitch somewhere…

I can go to the web app and I see the Recording Schedule and Program guide on the left side… so, I"m good here…

I use a Minix Android box with Kodi installed with the Plex add on to watch Plex, it is working great and I can see all my movies, recorded content and my music library… all work great… but, I do not see any “Reorded Schedule or Program Guide” on this app -add on- program … .Should I? On my 3 TV’s I use the Minix Box and Kodi to watch Plex so obviouly I’d like to watch my recorded TV shows and even if I want, Live TV.

I"ve looked at the different clients that can watch the Live TV and they show “Android TV” Android Mobile and other equiptment (Including Roku which I have and I can see the Plex TV). So am I out of luck trying to watch it on my Minix units.

As I am writing this queston… I turned on my Samsung Tablet and it is Android … and Bingo, there is my live TV and program guide… .

So, I guess my 2 questions are.

  1. any idea whey I am getting the cant find tuner on the hardware set up page for tuners and devices ?
  2. Are Android Media Boxes compatible with PLex and Live TV using Kodi and the PlexTV add on?

Hope this makes sense… Like I said, I am extreamly pleased with all that is offered and what we can do… Just a few start up hiccups or miss understandsing on my side… But, I"m sure it will all get worked out…

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That is weird about the tuner. I will ask our QA guys about it. Pretty sure they have that model

The Plex for Kodi add-on does not support Live TV at this time. I have no ETA on when it will but it I don’t think it will be soon. Our Android TV app does but I dunno if your Minix Android box actually runs Android TV OS or just regular android or what. Have you installed our regular Android app on it?

3

Were you using Internet Explorer when trying the setup? If so try Chrome.

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Big Wheel I have to do some research… originally I was trying to use the Android App on the SBMC that comes with Minix…that didn’t work, so someone suggested I try Kodi 17.x and the Plex Add On… that plays all my content great on all of my TVS just does not show the Live TV - DVR. in the menu.

As for the Tuner, it was weird, I originally tried to scan our network for the tuner, and it just kept spinning… so, I clicked the button and entered the IP address of the tuner, then it said continue, I scanned all our channels for the program guide and It loaded all the program information… pretty fast I might say. It was only after I went back and looked at the tuner did I see it shows the tuner in the window… I can open the setting tab for the tuner and make adjustments… . but it was just the red triangle on the bottom of the screen with the notice threw me off.

Johnm, I usually use Firefox, I and try Chrome tomorrow.

Finally I opened my Windows PC notebook and opened PLEX, no tuner showing up… . but, if I go to the web app https: xxxxx Plex I see everything so I suspect that is a server application on line.

The Ruko under PLex app is seeing the liveTV-DVR functions. and My Galaxy 8.4 tablet with Android 5.5 I think is seeing the TV-DVR function, the program guide and it all seems to work.

Perhaps to get around the Minix if I start recording shows can I point to that location for the recorded shows and watch them just like any other recorded program files I have for other shows, movies and videos… Would I just set up a media share under say… Plex recorded shows in the library section…

Like I said, I am extremely pleased with Plex… only sad that I had not found this years ago… it is fantastic … so, I’m telling a my friends :slight_smile:

Thanks for the quick response and information… I’m still a bit in the fog on the differened Vresions of Plex… but give me a few weeks… .I’ll get it all straightened out!

Dave
PS, the HDHomerun Quatro tuner is fantastic and actually a much better tuner that any of my TVS… and my TVs are not cheap units…

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Have you tried the Plex Android app on your Minix box. You should be able to install it even if the Minix box doesn’t have access to the play store.

How is your tuner connected to your home network compared to your Plex server. Are they plugged into the same network switch/router, what is in between them.

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If you want the latest version of the Android app you can get it from this thread on these forums. It has a TV presentation mode but not sure if that will disable live tv from the menues

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Good Morning Maverrick, sorry for the late reply…

  1. I do have access to the play store, and Yes, I downloaded the Plex app from the Play store… I"ve downloaded the app and run it… Yes, now I see the TV guide and recorded programs but I get the error Playback has stopped because the connection to the Plex media server has been lost… Please ensure the server is available and retry… I started out this way with the XBMC version of the Android on the Minix… after researching it… someone on the Minix site said, Install Kodi 17 in which I did and it is working as a add on to Kodi… I can see all my library movies, shows and other video’s just fine… .but when I try the Program guide it comes up… .but when I push to watch a “Now playing show” I get the error above… .

My home is one big network with GB hardlines to each of the wired boxes, and AC2340 Netgear when wireless… (Tablets and Phones… and once in a while Notebooks). When I set up the Live TV and DVR in the server I followed the promps… and It saw my tuner (but give me some error for some reason) but it is working… I don’t know why I am getting the error…

I also have a ruko 3 with PLex I have a “Program Guide” when I push that… I see the program guide, when I pick a show that is on now I can see it just fine… so, the server and the tuner seems to work fine so that is a start. The Ruko does not let you choose shows to be recorded now for some reason there ins’t an option to see the recorded programs from what I can see… So, I have to believe the server and TV all work… . Under the Plex - Ruk0 Menu though it seems Like I am only seeing "On Now shows… and not a future pr0gram guide.

I am thinking I just have to find the right combination of application and SMBC vs Kodi on my minix box. I have a bit more research to do this weekend…as soon as I get a brake I"ll dig in further… but so far what I am seeing I"m really impressed…

Hope all that makes sense…

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Mavrrick, Good Morning, Ok, so, I"ve been changing a few things around on my PMS and so far, I"m getting things playing pretty darn good… . Movies, Videos, TV shows (not from plex app)… and other videos… my CD collection is great and I have the “Plex Live TV and DVR” on the server… I have all the channels up and scanned from the Tuner and I"m really impressed with the qualitiy… My issue still seems to be my clients and having it full featured.

  1. My Ruko 3 I"ve added Plex to the Ruko, It loads and on the Left side I get my choices, the first being the Channel Guide, I can click on that and see the Channels from the Tuner thumbnails and, I can click on the Thumbnail and if it’s on, it plays that show… but it does not show me any option for Recorded Shows or the ability to set a show to record from the Ruko. I can not see any settings or options in the Ruko plex app to make any of that work.

  2. My Minix Android box, The OS is Android 5.11. On all 3 of them I have been able to add the Plex Under Video as an Add On and all of the content on the sever shows up, and plays but it does not give me any of the Live TV or PVR functions in this add on… So, Like I said before I went up and added the “Android App” on my Kodi 17.6 and it opens the program add on on the top of the screen I see Home, Movies Nas, CD collection Other videos and TV shows on one of my Nas drives… (not the Tuner, live tv DVR of Plex.

I decided to log out and log back in and it shows I am a “Plex Pass” (little green button under server). But, I still have no Live TV-DVR function… showing up on this app.

I do have the option to open Plex using the Android App, I was able to set a record for 9am so we will see if that works, but still if I try to watch a show off the android app it will not play on the Minix…

Sorry if this is a bit rambling, I"ve been clicking around on the Minix as I am typing this…

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Have you reviewed the Frequently Asked Questions – DVR & Live TV which covers what apps currently have Live TV versus which currently also have DVR? For instance Roku does not currently have DVR access as shown in the FAQ.

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Good Morning Johnm Well, I had looked at that before I had signed up for Plex Pass and it was one of the reasons I went for Plex Pass… but I guess I got a bit confused on what plays, records and works for the DVR function and Live TV… and this answers it. I guess I miss interpreted ANDROID TV as what my MINIx is… I guess not…

I have loged in to Plex TV/web and everything works just fine, I have set a schedule for something to record in about 30 minutes and it will run for 30 minutes… .so I’ll see how that goes.

I wonder if I point a Library at the location in Plex server where the recorded shows are and watch them just as I would a regular show or video? I probably would not have the interface but heck, if I could at least watch what I record as a video file.

My server is a pretty hefty server so even if it felt like transcodeing It would not be an issue.

I have just checked my Samsung Galaxy Tablet (My guess Android Mobile) and it is working like a champ!

So, this gives me some options… Hopefully Plex will develop some more apps for boxes like the Minix under Kodi.

I really appreciate you sending me that link… .I know others have suggested I check it out but I could not find it… Everyone here is so helpful and patient with newbies like me… I sure appreciate it… .

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I watch recorded content from my Plex Server all the time. I rarely actually watch Live TV. I can watch recorded content from web browser, Roku, iPhone, First gen iPad, Fire TV Stick, and Nvidia Shield. As long as the content is in a format the client device can handle you should not have any issues. I manually transcode all shows I record from the mpeg2 format to h265 for permanent storage and my devices have had no issues with the h265 format that I have noticed. I also have a friend that streams my content to her house using a chromecast and she has not mentioned any issues with streaming.

Plex is always trying to improve the client apps on the different platforms they support. In the last 3 weeks from reviewing the Release Announcements page there have been new releases for clients - Roku, PS 3&4, PMP, Xbox One, iOS, Smart TV’s & TiVo, Apple TV, and Android.

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Good Afternoon Johnm, well, thanks for your reply… and after my last post prior to your response I went ahead and did some trial recording of a program… And It did record just fine… at first I was scratching my head wondering where the recorded video shows up… and there it was under Recently Added TV… . and it is available on all my devices to play back… so, that cleared it up big time for me! I kept searching the sidebar for some kind of Library but then I looked from the Home Page view and there it was… I clicked on it and it’s playing fine. During the recording process I did not do any transcoding but I am going to look in to that.

I also noticed this time when I went to my DVR set up page my Tuner is showing with no errors and in fact shows it has 4 Tuners so I guess it worked itself out. It was a real head scratcher for a moment when I kept seeing an error but I was watching TV…

We are like you… we never watch live TV if we do not have to… I even record the news before I get up in the morning so I can miss the commercials. I have several NAS units mainly as storage, the PMS is a I7 6700 with 16gb of ram so if I want I can use it to trans code.

So, It seems like my issues are solved… I"m sure I’ll be back for more…

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Well, I’ve run in to a bit of a hitch and wonder if anyone else is having this problem. It is back to the HDHomerun Quatro Tuner and recording program applications.

I originally purchased the HDhomerun tuner and used the set up program and it all worked fine It would record the programs I wanted and stored them on an external hard disk…

Then, I learned of the Plex Live tv and DVR with PLex Pass and jumped right in… with much help from alot of folks here on the forum and this thread I’ve run in to a Hiccup once again and thought others might have run in to this… To do so, you would have to have both the HDHOmomerun tuner and application up and running as I did… Then, I did the set up on Plex for the Live TV - DVR and it all seems to work fine… but saying that I went to look at what was recorded on the HDHomerun application and the programs I have set to record everyday and when I bring up their applications, go to Recordings they are not showing up… So, it looked like they were recording so I went up to the server and looked at the recoding folder of the HDHomerun set up and yep, the programs are there…

I ran the HDhomerun set up again when I see the tuner, now it says it is being used by the plex server… so, what I have is a conflict between the two services… HDHomerun and Plex… it seems.

Funny, though, I went up to the PLex Server, created a Library of the recordings on the drive I use for HDHomerun and I can now see those recordings in PLex… Go figure…

The end result is proably Pick one or the other… I can deal with that… but I have a 1 year Subscripton in the HDHomerun DVR software… which is 2 weeks old… so, It would be nice if I could get both of them runninig… but like I said, i’ts probably one of those things of one or the other!

Just thought I’d throw this out there and see if anyone has run in to a similar issue…

Thanks in advance for any input…
Dave

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I have the hdhomerun dvr, plex dvr and the hdhomerun quatro l also have a hdhomerun 2 tuner. I record with the hdhomerun all the time and have the folder setup in plex so I can watch the recordings with plex or hdhomerun. Plex has an issue playing nice with others using tuners, they expect to have complete use of the turner so if hdhomerun is using a tuner and plex wants to use it plex will fail. This is the reason I got the hdhomerun dvr until this is fixed with plex. Also what I have done is plex just has access to the quatro and not the 2tuner, and my hdhomerun app always goes to the 2tuner first, so that way it helps with conflicts with tuners. Hope this kind of answer your question, they both can run but plex will fail if it does not have inclusive use of the tuner.

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Thanks RLJNC for the quick response… in looking at the set ups I kind of thought that was what the issues were, At first, it was Plex that was telling me there was an error on the tuner, but, I was able to watch the TV… The program guide all woked just fine but then when I went back to watch the shows I recorded on the HDhomerun it looked like it was recording and I confirmed that by looking at the External drive I have set up for the DVR of the HDHomerun the shows were not showing up under “Recorded” I can understand how that conflict can happen…So, what about this aproach…
I can delete the tuner in Plex as if it’s not there… (would the program guide still show up)?

Until my subscription ends, I can just use the HDHOmerun as if it is stand alone and then like you mentioned just point a library entry as TV Shows HDHomerun … and I can watch the shows thru Plex if I want or I can just back out of Plex and watch it as I did before with thee HDHomerun applications…

Now if I do that, then if I am away I could still watch the videos when I am away just looking at the video files… No problem.

I was wondering if you have the HDHomerun system set on another computer If that would make a difference or is it the fact that both programs want to use the tuner? I guess I could look for another tuner if that were the case… but If the Plex System continues to develop the Live TV and DVR function I may not have to sign up for another year with the HDhomerun at $35.00 per year… since I have the PlexPass lifetime. I do have to say, so far the Quatro is one heck of a tuner, very sharp and sensitive… .I"m in the Nashville area and I think I got 59 channels.

Dave

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RLJNC, after I posted the above, I was in the HDHOMERUN tech pages for Windows 10… and at the very bottom of this page it talks about competing services… https://forum.silicondust.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=126&t=29732

Does this help fix the issue?
DVR record engine on the same PC:
By default Windows blocks Trusted Windows Store apps from communicating with other apps/services on the same PC. This prevents the list of recorded files from being displayed.

Solution: Open a PowerShell command as Administrator and run:
CheckNetIsolation LoopbackExempt -a -n=‘ef712ba7.hdhomerundvr_23nna27hyxhag’

Create desktop shortcut:
viewtopic.php?f=119&t=65469

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Well I did not mention that I am running my hdhomerun dvr on my NAS and not my pc with plex, but regardless you can have the tuner conflict. Yes kind of hoping plex gets all this ironed out so don’t have to pay the 35 mine runs out in July. Yes like the tuner in Raleigh Durham area get 54 channels.

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I’ve not been to Raleigh for quite a while… the last few years the IBMA have been there and I wanted to go but scheduling issues just kept getting in the way… Maybe next year…

Interesting that I just received the following email back from SD support: Seems like they want to blame Plex… funny, I know they originally developed a system together… Oh well…

Here is what I got as a response: Plex does not play nicely with other children on the playground. It expects to have exclusive control of any tuners it has access to, and will fail in unpredictable ways if a tuner it wants to use is in use by something else. The HDHomeRun DVR has no such issues, and will simply move on to another available tuner (if available) if the one it tries first is in use.

  • Silicondust Support
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rljnc, well, after having the issues with the TV tuner conflicting with PLex I decided to remove the Tuner from Plex at this point… and, Use just the SD HDHomerun set up for the time being… I even decided to not display the shows I have recorded because Plex although shows some of the I can not delete the files and for some reason not all of them actually show up… so, I decided since I have the 1 year subscription of the HDHomerun DVR I"ll go ahead and use that and keep an eye on what new things come up for the Plex DVR functions… Too bad, but with the major conflicts it is’t worth screwing around with it…

My guess SD Homerun will drag their feet with $35.00 a year for their program and subscription they may not want to lose out to Plex… Time will tell who wins out.